Quibbles Challenge
by thai.MI.Pride
Summary: Missing moments between characters, before, during, and post Deathly Hallows, both cannon and AU. Because they'll never really leave us. includes RHr among other pairings
1. incentive

**Title- **Quibbles Challenge #1. incentive

**Author- **.Pride

**Fandom/Pairings- **Harry Potter/RHr

**Rating- **K+

**Summary- **First in a six-part series of one-shots. My Livejournal starter challenge. This one takes place after Chapter 14: The Thief, Deathly Hallows but before Chapter 15 starts.

**Notes- **I know I've been horrible about posting lately, but now that it's summer, I can get back into the swing of things! Also, keep an eye on my Livejournal; I'll probably update that faster than I update this. Thanks for reading!

**Disclaimer- **HP and the characters do not belong to me, they are the brainchilds (brainchildren?) of the brilliant J.K. Rowling.

**1. incentive**

The sound of birdcalls pierced through her sleep, jolting her awake. For a moment she thought she was back at the Burrow, but no, it was too cold and uncomfortable to be.

Grudgingly, she forced her eyes open to find herself on the bottom bunk of a bed that smelled faintly of cats, facing the yellowed canvas of the tent wall.

Now she remembered where she was. Stuck in the middle of some god-forsaken forest, all thanks to Yaxley and their botched attempt to break into the Ministry.

It was too, too cold. Too cold to think; too cold to move, let alone get up. It must've been the dead of winter. Autumn couldn't possibly be so numbingly cold.

The bird sang again. She ignored it. Wind battered the walls of the tent. She burrowed deeper into her blankets. Someone moved behind her back. She heard the rustling of blanket and bedclothes from the bunk at the far end of the tent.

Only the sound of the soft groan that followed could have compelled her to roll over swiftly to see who had made the noise.

Ron.

Hermione shot out of her bunk and crossed the tent to his side faster than she would've thought possible. Ron lay on his back, eyes closed, looking worryingly pale and still. He had apparently tried to roll onto his side but had moved too suddenly, still faint from losing so much blood after Splinching.

"Ron?" She laid a hand on his shoulder nervously. "Are you all right?"

He breathed heavily for a moment before replying hoarsely through dry, white lips. "Dizzy."

The tone of that single word terrified her.

"Don't move," she told him before leaping up again and diving for her beaded purse. She Summoned the restorative tea she'd stolen from Mrs. Weasley's pantry and an old kettle of water. Leaving the kettle prepare the tea on its own, she gathered all of the blankets from her own bunk and ran back to pile them on top of Ron, carefully tucking them in around his long frame. A fleeting image of Ron lying on the forest floor, half-covered in dark blood passed through her mind before she forbade herself to think about it again as she fumbled with pouring the tea into a mug.

Ron turned grayer still when she slid onto the bed beside him and helped him to sit up. He had at least managed to open his eyes and they were fixed sleepily on her as she handed him the mug and ordered him to drink. She watched fretfully as he gulped the hot drink down and only relaxed once she saw a bit of colour return to his face.

His eyes were bright now and they were still fixed on her. She tried not to notice.

"You look tired," he told her sleepily.

"Hm." She slid out from under his shoulder and let him lay back down on his bed, taking the mug from him as she did so.

"How the hell did you manage to get out of bed? It's freezing out here, and too damn early to be up…" He was mumbling now, still not fully awake.

She ignored this and scanned his face again, reassuring herself that he was fine. His eyes drifted closed and he was asleep again within seconds, though he looked much better than he had when he'd first awoken.

Satisfied with his wellbeing, Hermione trudged back across the tent to her bed, only to remember that she'd given all of her blankets to Ron. With a mental slap to her forehead, she collapsed onto the mattress and curled up tightly around her pillow.

_The things I do for that boy,_ she thought to herself before falling back into the blackness of sleep.

Half an hour later, Harry came in from his watch, grumpy and exhausted, to find Hermione wrapped around her pillow. He shook her gently, told her to wake up and continue the watch and got a stinging slap across his arm for his trouble.

**A/N:** Not my fave, but I think they'll get better. Keep reading and reviewing!


	2. bored then unfortunate

**Title- **Quibbles Challenge #2. Bored then unfortunate

**Author- **.Pride

**Fandom/Pairings- **Harry Potter/None

**Rating- **K+

**Summary- **First in a six-part series of one-shots. My Livejournal starter challenge.

**Notes- **This one is post DH, when Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy are in their fifth year at Hogwarts. I'm feeling inspired by them, so look out for them soon. :D

**2. bored then unfortunate**

Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy was bored out of his bollocks. He sat in a secluded corner of the library, surrounded by stacks of dusty old Charms books, next to a tall window that happened to overlook part of the lake. It was dark outside now, so there weren't any pretty Hogwarts girls lounging around the shores of the lake for him to look at, and the books held no interest to him at the moment. His only company was his blue-eyed, bushy-haired Gryffindor classmate who was now sitting across from him at the small study desk, scribbling away at a now three-foot long Charms essay.

There was only one thing for a bored sixteen-year-old guy to do in his situation: drive her insane.

Scorpius studied his friend for a moment, deciding how best to annoy her. Upon making a decision, he leaned back in his chair and casually began shredding bits of scrap parchment from drafts of the essay he'd finished half an hour earlier. Just as nonchalantly, he crumpled one of the pieces into a tiny ball and quickly flicked it at the girl's coppery-brown hair. The paper ball lodged itself in her locks. Rose didn't even flinch.

Amused, Scorpius tried flicking another at her, this time with more force. The paper ball shot over the top of her head. Rose Weasley slid her parchment further up onto the table and continued to write furiously.

He sent a third paper ball flying towards her. It struck her squarely on the forehead and bounced off. Rose's hand did not waver one bit from writing her essay.

Now he began to feel annoyed. She was deliberately ignoring him! He shot another two paper balls towards her without effect.

"Oy," he called to her. "Weasley."

She continued writing. The essay now surpassed four feet in length.

He tried again. "Weasley." No response. "Rose!"

If anything, she seemed to be writing even faster, more consumed than ever with finishing the essay. Frustrated, and getting a bit worried, he flicked five paper balls at her in rapid succession, determined to get a response from her.

Abruptly, the girl stood up, whipping her finished essay off the table and shoving it into her bag. Scorpius let out a noiseless sigh.

"Finally! I thought you'd been hexed to write that essay forever or something—!"

He was cut off just as abruptly as Rose crossed the table to his side, shoved him into his chair so he was sent skidding into a pile of books, cried "_Impedimenta!_" and swept away as the towering stacks of textbooks came crashing down over him.

Distantly, he heard a shriek that came from their psychotic, ancient librarian followed by an accusatory "_Malfoy! Detention!_" and made a mental note to himself to never, _ever_ annoy Rose Weasley when she had an essay to finish ever again.

**A/N: **Watch this space. ;D


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